The last two days of our 4 days at the parks are with a vacation package (enjoy attractions). I chose BATB, Baymax, and Spalsh at DL; Journey to the Center of the Earth and Soarin at DS. Will have happy entry both days so hopefully first picks at DPAs.
So what should we plan to prioritize to get upon entering each park given we'll already have some of the most popular pre-booked? And then later on in the day, what gets long lines? I'm thinking Pooh's Hunny Hunt at DL, and was thinking Tower of Terror or Midway Mania at DS... though not terribly interested in Midway Mania since it's the same as in the US. Though it's a fun ride nonetheless.
Also, did I pick the right stuff for the package DPAs? I was wondering particularly about Splash. Seems nice to not have a time locked in, but then I wondered if we should choose one of the multiple attraction DPAs since something else might have longer lines.
I think you made very solid choices. We have back-to-back VP coming up and I did the following. The only things I’m unsure about is 3 times on JttCotE…
Package one (2d)
DL: BatB, Baymax, Other (likely PHH)
DS: JttCotE, Other (likely 20K Leagues)
Package two (3d)
DL: BatB, Splash, Other (likely Monsters Inc)
DS: JttCotE, Soaring
DS: JttCotE, ToT, TSM
I think you made very solid choices. We have back-to-back VP coming up and I did the following. The only things I’m unsure about is 3 times on JttCotE…
Package one (2d)
DL: BatB, Baymax, Other (likely PHH)
DS: JttCotE, Other (likely 20K Leagues)
Package two (3d)
DL: BatB, Splash, Other (likely Monsters Inc)
DS: JttCotE, Soaring
DS: JttCotE, ToT, TSM
I think you'll have a better idea the day of, than now, since you will have already had two park days to know what you want to ride again (or what you missed). I think you're mixing up DPA and priority pass rides as well, they are not the same and you can book more of both once you scan in. DPA have a fee, whereas priority pass is free. At DL you chose the three DPA for your three attraction tickets, the option for multiple attractions (such as Hunny Hunt) is basically a free priority pass (not DPA) without a time window.
Most people would probably recommend booking DPA instead of the multiple attractions priority passes for your VP attraction tickets, so you don't have to worry about the DPA selling out quickly on your park day. But some of the priority passes go pretty fast too, so if one of those is a total must do it could be worth using one of your slots to ensure at least two rides (since you could book another priority pass for it as soon as you scan in). Something like Hunny Hunt will often run out of priority passes before your window opens to book another, so if you booked it as one of your VP rides you could ride with your attraction ticket and again as your first priority pass. If you didn't book it with your package you'd probably only get to ride it once with priority pass once you scan in. But since you have multiple park days...you'll probably have already ridden it anyways, so securing two passes in the same day may not matter much to you by your 3rd/4th days!
BATB and Baymax I believe run out much faster than Splash so if you were going to switch one out, I'd switch out Splash. You could most certainly book a DPA for Splash as soon as you enter the park, but then you will be limited to an hour time window (less flexible than with the VP attraction ticket). And since DPA is different than priority pass you can book both a DPA and a priority pass as soon as you enter the park. Since you would already have a DPA for BATB and Baymax, I would book the priority pass before the DPA when you enter the park if you went this route, since Splash doesn't sell out super fast at all. Then you could ideally get the first window for your priority pass ride, ride it, and be able to make another priority pass before anyone who didn't have happy entry. (People without happy entry will probably not get the first return windows, so they can't make another pass until two hours or after they ride their first priority pass ride, so they will be "behind" everyone who had happy entry and got a 9AM return window for example.)
I think Hunny Hunt is a good choice for rope drop, I did Space Mountain and then Hunny Hunt with very minimal lines for both, though it was a pretty quiet park day when I went. Sound like you're not planning to rope drop BATB which I think is wise because it's a mad rush and then you miss some of the really short lines during the 8:30-9:30 window.
For DisneySea I think Tower of Terror and Midway Mania are both good options for rope drop. I made the mistake of heading to Journey and it wasn't open yet for happy entry, which sounds like is common. I went to Midway Mania after and the line wasn't bad even though I didn't head there first, I waited maybe 15 minutes. So if you went to that area first I think you'd have a chance of doing both ToT and MM without much of a wait depending on how busy the day is. It is exactly like the US parks so I would never pay for it for DPA but I didn't regret rope dropping it since it was a short wait and I do enjoy the ride!
The last two days of our 4 days at the parks are with a vacation package (enjoy attractions). I chose BATB, Baymax, and Spalsh at DL; Journey to the Center of the Earth and Soarin at DS. Will have happy entry both days so hopefully first picks at DPAs.
So what should we plan to prioritize to get upon entering each park given we'll already have some of the most popular pre-booked? And then later on in the day, what gets long lines? I'm thinking Pooh's Hunny Hunt at DL, and was thinking Tower of Terror or Midway Mania at DS... though not terribly interested in Midway Mania since it's the same as in the US. Though it's a fun ride nonetheless.
Also, did I pick the right stuff for the package DPAs? I was wondering particularly about Splash. Seems nice to not have a time locked in, but then I wondered if we should choose one of the multiple attraction DPAs since something else might have longer lines.
I think you picked well for your package attractions. I picked space mountain over Baymax just because we love coasters (plus it was closing) and Baymax is a clone of swirling saucers at WDW and Tow Maters at DL.
For the free 40th anniversary passes on the day you have fantasy springs wristband at TDS I would pick in this order:
Indy first as that gets a long line
raging spirits (ok coaster, but neat theming)
20,000 leagues- I loved this one but at the end of the day was walk on so went twice
Aquatopia (fun, I didn’t get soaked but some people did)
Nemo ride - cute theater type ride
sinbad wasn’t open when we were there so not sure if its anniversary or paid access.
40th Anniversary at TDL picks in order
Poohs Hunny Hunt
Thunder Mountain
Monsters Inc
Buzz Lightyear
Haunted Mansion - this was always available the longest while we were there, it wasn’t as popular
Star Tours
For your no package day at TDS prioritize getting entry to FS and a standby pass. Frozen went the quickest. If you want to eat at one of the restaurants in there set up your mobile order early in the morning to coincide with your entry time that’s assigned.
As for the DPA rides that you pay for we didn’t end up paying for anything additional to what we got included in our vacation package. We did it the opposite way however where our two night package was the first three days there so only our last day at TDL did we have no package fast passes. It was not crowded so we really didn’t need them luckily. We rode on BATB 4 times it was so good, the first with our DPA pass and the the others were one first in the morning with happy entry and two at the end of the night with it being walk on to the first show element during the parade.
Unless you want front and center for the Believe show at TDS we found it easy to find a spot to stand around the water no problem and saw everything very well a few minutes before it started, no DPA needed. They do have stickers on the ground which indicate your spot if you do reserve it with DPA. Same for the DL light parade. The floats were beautiful and they go on a large path through the park so plenty of spots to see the parade without buying DPA. They were beautiful and worth seeing. The walkways are twice as wide as any at WDW in TDL so plenty of space we couldn’t believe how roomy it was.
Also no need to go to Stitch Encounter at TDL unless you speak Japanese as it’s an interactive show similar to Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor at WDW. We were hoping it was like the old alien encounter ride, we spent 10 minutes not understanding anything and hoping they wouldn’t pick us to interact with.
If I were to pay extra any ride it would be Beauty and the Beast. We also enjoyed the theming of Tower of Terror, we waited the longest for this one at 60 minutes because we had the time and had ridden everything else that day.
Joe Rhode is the character Hightower whose hotel you are in who is an antiquities thief.
I hear the queue for BATB is so I'm thinking we'll try to ride it during the parade as well, or happy entry on the second DL day, so we can see the queue. Sounds like we might be riding it several times lol
I was surprised how many of the rides have mostly lines outside subject to the elements at TDL. We were so happy be bought compact umbrellas just for the shade. Our rain plan was shopping and eating on Main Street since it’s undercover, luckily it only rained for about 20 minutes on our 4 days there.
I’d still get BATB as my vacation package pick and the wildcard or Baymax. BATB is just an amazing ride with a how the heck did that happen element where you will want to ride again just to see it.
I’d still get BATB as my vacation package pick and the wildcard or Baymax. BATB is just an amazing ride with a how the heck did that happen element where you will want to ride again just to see it.
We rode it 4 times, the first was with our priority pass included with our vacation package. We rode again at the end of the night with a 10 minute wait during the parade. Our second day we went straight there during happy entry and waited about 30 minutes and then again at the end of the night with another 10 minute wait. Our 4 park days were Mon-Thursday so the highest wait times we saw were 60 minutes with the exception of Beauty having 90 minutes wait mid day. It was also the last week of school for kids in Japan before summer break so I think that helped crowd wise.
I just wanted to add at DL getting from ride to ride didn’t take as long because of the hub and spoke design. At Disney Sea it’s better to try to plan rides by areas because there’s a lot more walking and different elevations get to rides in different lands, you could be cross crossing the park a lot if the express times are close together but the rides are on opposite ends of the park, like Toy Story and Fantasy springs for example.
I was surprised how many of the rides have mostly lines outside subject to the elements at TDL. We were so happy be bought compact umbrellas just for the shade. Our rain plan was shopping and eating on Main Street since it’s undercover, luckily it only rained for about 20 minutes on our 4 days there.
We rode it 3 times. We are not even massive fans of the movie. Our 18 year old son loved the animatronics and vehicle mechanism. We could have ridden it more. Best ride at TDR.
I just wanted to add at DL getting from ride to ride didn’t take as long because of the hub and spoke design. At Disney Sea it’s better to try to plan rides by areas because there’s a lot more walking and different elevations get to rides in different lands, you could be cross crossing the park a lot if the express times are close together but the rides are on opposite ends of the park, like Toy Story and Fantasy springs for example.
We rode it 3 times. We are not even massive fans of the movie. Our 18 year old son loved the animatronics and vehicle mechanism. We could have ridden it more. Best ride at TDR.
The music for BATB is so nostalgic to me. My first ride, I was just very impressed, taking it all in. The second time the nostalgia really hit and I almost cried I really appreciated how much time the ride spends in each scene, so many of the rides rush from scene to scene and you really linger on BATB. I hadn't watched any ride throughs beforehand so I went in pretty blind and I was glad!
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I really appreciated how much time the ride spends in each scene, so many of the rides rush from scene to scene and you really linger on BATB. I hadn't watched any ride throughs beforehand so I went in pretty blind and I was glad!
